Trump’s ex-campaign manager Manafort given another prison term

Donald Trump‘s former campaign manager Paul Manafort has been sentenced to 73 months in prison for two conspiracy charges arising from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 US presidential election.

On Wednesday, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said 30 of the months would run concurrently with Manafort’s sentence last week in a separate case when the Republican political consultant was sentenced to 47 months in prison for tax and bank fraud in a separate Mueller case.

Manafort, who will serve just over 90 months in prison, apologised for his actions and asked for leniency during his sentencing hearing.

“I am sorry for what I have done and all the activities that have gotten us here today,” Manafort said as he read from a written statement.

“While I cannot undo the past, I will ensure that the future will be very different,” he added.

The 69-year-old, who arrived in court in a wheelchair, said he was the primary caregiver of his wife and wanted the chance for them to resume their life together.

His plea for leniency followed prosecutor Andrew Weissmann’s scathing assessment of crimes that the government said spanned more than a decade and continued even while Manafort was awaiting trial.

He said Manafort took steps to conceal his foreign lobbying work, laundered millions of dollars to fund a lavish lifestyle and then, while under house arrest, coached other witnesses to lie on his behalf.

Manafort has been jailed since last June, when his house arrest was revoked over allegations that he sought to influence witnesses by trying to get them to give evidence in a certain way.